The following excerpt is from "Sotheby's Agree to Pay $512 Million Collusion Settlement," Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2000.
Sotheby's Holdings Inc. and rival Christie's International agreed to pay $512 million to settle claims by art buyers and sellers that the auction houses colluded on prices and cheated them, with nearly one-third of the tab to be paid by Sotheby's former chairman, A. Alfred Taubman. The proposed civil settlement comes as Justice Department prosecutors are reaching a critical stage in their three-year criminal probe of the world's largest auction houses. They are close to reaching agreements with Sotheby's and its former chief executive, Diane "Dede" Brooks, that would secure their testimony against Mr. Taubman in exchange for leniency and lighter penalties, according to people familiar with the matter.
-Refer to the excerpt above.The story illustrates a government use of so-called whistleblower protection to ________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The excerpt mentions that the auction houses colluded on prices, which suggests a potential abuse of market power. The government's use of whistleblower protection is to secure testimony from insiders who can provide evidence of the collusion, which is a regulatory action aimed at regulating market power. Therefore, the best choice is A, regulate market power. The other choices - regulate the merger of dominant firms, regulate price, regulate quantity - are not directly relevant to the story, as there is no mention of mergers, price controls, or quantity restrictions.

The Following Excerpt Is from "Sotheby's Agree to Pay $512